Organ



-v 1, 1929. E. BAWTREE 1,742,121

ORGAN Filed Jan. 28, 1928- 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 31, 1929. E. BAWTREE1,742,121

Filed Jan. 28, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 31, 1929 uurrsnsra'res EDWARD BAVJTEEE, OF GRPINGTON, ENGLAND ORGAN Application filedJanuary 28, 1328, Serial No. 250,274, and in Great Britain February 3,1927.

This invention relates to organs particularly those in which metal orwooden fiuepipes of ordinary type are employed and in which means areprovided whereby the fiuepipes are dynamically controlled, that is tosay the power or volume oi the sound produced can be increased ordecreased without the use of a swell-be Acording to this invention thewindstream is controlled by a device which is operated by suitable mealunder the influence of the player, for var mg the volume of thewindstream passing through the windway without materially altering itspressure at that point; or, in other words, the power of the windstreampassing through the windway is varied without unduly or objectionablyaffecting its tone-producing qualities. The aforesaid device maycomprise a shutter or the like for varying the width of the windway anda valve or other contrivance for varying or controlling the pressure ofthe requisite degree as the shutter closes or opens,

thus ensuring that the windstream at the point where it passes throughthe windway is kept at practically constant pressure as aforesaid.

Any desired number or a group of the fluepipes may be provided with theaforesaid windstream controlling devices and means may be provided forenabling the latter to be operated simultaneously so that the windstreammay be varied to the same extent in all the fluepipes in which case theeffect obtained would be like that of an ordinary swell-box; or the saidwindst-re'am controlling devices may be provided with means for erablingthem to be operated simultaneously and also individually and in thiscase the said devices of all the fiuepipes may be ac tuatedsimultaneously by the player as before to obtain the swell e'liect, ormay be tellh porarily set or retained in any desired position ofadjustment by the player for obtaining any particular degree 01"softness orloudness of the sound emit 'ed by the pipes, and at the sametime the player may independently operate any of the said devicesthrough a double touch action for enabling the melody to be accented.

In applying my invention is it not neces sary that all of the fluepipesoi an organ shall be dynamically controlled; some of them may hecont-rolled in the ordinary way with or without a swell-box.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, the same will now be more fully described withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which v Figure 1 is asectional elevation of a wooden fluepipe provided with one form of mywin dsiream controlling device in which the shutter and valve areconstituted by rectilineariy sliding plates.

Figures 2 and 3 are plan views of the shutter and the valve shownseparately.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are similar views to Figures 1, 2 and 3 but shown ametal flutzpipe provided with another form of the device in which theshutter and valve are constituted by rotary or angularly displaceablemembers.

Figure 7 shows diagrammatically a metal fluepipe similar to Figure 4provided with a modified form of the device shown in that figure andwith means for enabling the -double touch effect to be obtained.

Figure 8 illustrates diagrammatically a further modification hereinaftermore fully described.

Like letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the figures.

' A is the fluepipe and a the windway through which the windstreampasses from the passage a when the pipe speaks, said pas sage a being incommunication with the wind supply in the ordinary way. B is the shutterfor varying the volume of the wind stream passing through the windway aby controlling the width of the latter. C is the valve for varying thepressure of the wind stream in accordance with the position or theshutter B.

In Figures 1 to 3 the said shutter and valve are in the form oi plateswaich slide respectively on the block or languid a and the base piece aat the foot of the fluepipe. The shu ter has attached to it a rod Z) thefree end of which is connected to a lever D pivoted at d and the valvehas attached to it a similar rod 0 the free end oit which is alsoconnected to the lever D but at the opposite side of the pivot so thatthe shutter and valve work together in opposite directions when the saidlever is actuated by the player from a balanced or other form of pedalE, the shutter 15 moving in a direction to diminish the windway a whenthe valve C moves in a direction to decrease the pass ge through whichthe windstream passes 01 its to the windway and vice versa, with the"esult that although the volume of the winds am passing through thewindway a is varied by the shutter the pressure at that point is keptpractically constant by the valve. The active edges of the said shutterand valve are of double inclined formation at b and c with anintervening straight portion In in. the case of the shutter and anintervening curved portion 0 in the case of the valve. as indicated byFigures 2 and 3 respectively, so that they normally leave a portion atthe middle of the windway o and a portion at the periphery of the mouthof the passage [4 open but when they are moved in opposite directions bythe player actuating the balanced pedal as aforesaid they vary the areaof these open portions in the proper ratio to ensure that in increasingthe volume or strength of the note produced, its pitch will remainpractically unaltered and a proper swell eii'ect obtained. In order toenable the various fluepipes with which the windstream controllingtcVlCQS are provided to be operated simultaneously for obaining theaforesaid swell eliect, the lower ends of the levers D are connected byhinged arms d, e to a horizontal axle 6 common to all of the said leversand having at one of its ends, or elsewhere thereon an actuating arm awhich is coi'in'ected with the balanced pedal by connecting rods 0, 6*,so that on operating the said pedal the axle (2 will be turned to andfro in accordance with the movements of the pedal.

In Figures lto 6 the shutter B and valve C receive rotary or angularmotion through arms 6 0 connected together by a rod D. The meeting endsof the arm 7) and of the rod D are connected to a cross rod 6*. This rodis connected by a rod 6 to an arm a car ried by a transverse shaft 0which is common to a number or group of the lluepipes provided with thewindstream controlling devices and which is coupled to the balance(pedal E by an arm 6 and a connecting rod 6, so that simultaneousoperation will be imparted to all the said devic s by the depression ofthe pedal and angular movement of the shaft 6 in order to obtain theswell effect as in Figures 1 to 3. The roshutter is shown made in twoparts Figure 5) each of which has its inclined or active surface or edgeformed slightly helical. These two parts are adapted to turn about anaxis a mssing lengthwise through or adjacentto the winoway a, the twoparts bein connected. together, so as to turn in unison, by the saidarms 5'' and in so turning they open or close the vindway in thedirection of its length thus 'arying what is known technically as itswidth. The valve C is in the term of a disc mounted on a spindle whichis connected by the arm 0 and rod D to the iid cross rod 0*.

Instead of actuating the devices only by means of the balanced pedal Eas aforesaid, in order to obtain an ordinary swell eii'ect, I mayarrange for the actuation to be ellccted also by a double touch actionas illustrated by Figure 7, where it will be seen that the arrangeinent,in so far as the shutter and valve are concerned, is similar to Figurel, but that the rods 6 instead of being connected direct to the arms 6oi the common tranverse shaft 6 which is actuated from the balancedpedal E, are connected to the adjacent ends 7" of intermediate arms orlevers 7' which are pivotally connected at the middle or thereabouts tothe rods 65 of the pedal mechanism, the opposite end of the said arms orlevers 7 being connected by pin joints f to pneumatic motors or bellowsF operating under wind pressure against the resistance of springs f ofwhich there is one to each of the fiuepipes provided with my device. Inthis arrang ment when the. shutters and valves of the various fluepipesto whichmy devices are applied are operated simultaneously by thebalanced. pedal E, the arms or levers 7 turn about the pin joints f andimpart movement tothe arms 6 and c as in the arrangement shown by Figurel, for obtaining the swell effect. If however the double touch effect isrequired that is obtained by the player exerting the double touchmovement on the desired keys of the keyboard, i. e. depressing the keybeyond the position which is normally necessary to cause a pipe to speakwhereby the metal rod G is caused to rise and make the necessaryelectrical contact between the contact members g, g, for causingelectrically operated valves f (which are of the usual type) to beactuated, whereupon the pneumatic bellows F are caused to distend bybeing placed in communication with the high pressure wind system; indistending they act against springs and move the intermediate arms orlevers f. which turn about the points f and balanced pedal alone.

thus push the rods 6 in an upward direction whereby the operating leversb 0 of the shutters and valves of the fluepipes appertaining to theparticular keys that are pressed by the player into the double touchposition are caused to move (irrespective of their position inperforming the swell effect) into the fully open position in which thefluepipes speak at their full power. In order to allow the windways ofthe fluepipes to be thus fully opened with the balanced pedal in anyposition, it is necessary to provide for the absorption in the system ofany excess movement such as would occur in the event of the windways ofthe remaining fluepipes, i. e. those that are for the time beingunaffected by the double touch action, having been controlled only tosuch an extent as to cause the tone to become slightly softened. Forthis purpose I may provide the various joints of the shutter and valveactuating mechanism with spring buffer connections. I prefer, however,to make the arms 6 and c of spring metal and to provide fixed stops andc for said arms to bear against without bending when the shutter andvalve are in the normal or fully open position, so that in the event ofthe bellows F operating when the arms 5 and 0 have been actuated only toa small extent as aforesaid, the said arms in moving under the influenceof the arms 7 (the stroke of which is always the same whatever positionthe arms 12 and 0 may occupy) will come against the stops b 0 and giveway by bending, their resiliency enabling them to resume their ordinarycondition again when the stress exerted on them is removed. Uponreleasing the double touch action the source of high pressure wind iscut off and the wind within the bellows allowed to escape through anappropriate valve, whereupon the aforesaid spring f returns the parts ofthe mechanism to the original position and the fluepipes are then underthe control of the If desired the said pedal can be operated while thedouble touch action is in operation, but the fluepipes sounding themelody will not be aflected until the double touch action is released,when they will immediately conform to whatever fresh position may havebeen taken up by the pedal. Or the pedal may be temporarily retained inany desired position by the player putting it into engagement with acatch arrangement or the like, as is well understood in connection withswell organs, so as to obtain a setting of any particular degree ofsoftness or loudness desired while the double touch action is beingoperated.

It should be understood that although I have described and shown a valveacting to control the wind pressure by throttling the wind supply, thecontrol could in some cases be effected by releasing some of the wind onits way to the windway; for example by letting it escape through an exitopened and closed to an extent in proper ratio to the closing andopening of the shutter by mechanism which may be similar tothatdisclosed in the arrangements above described.

Instead of varying or controlling the pressure of the wind to thewindways by the movement of a valve situated in each individualfiuepipe, I may in some cases (for instance as in a harmonium)simultaneously control the pressure of the wind supplied to a group offluepipes, in which case the shuttors are operated by a pneumatic systemsuch as that shown by Figure 8, wherein there is provided a wind chest Hwhich is charged with wind at variable pressure from the foot bellows ofthe harmonium and which is in communication with a series of bellows Gacting against springs g. These bellows Gr are connected with theshutter-actuating arms 5 by rods 1), the opening and closing of theshutters being thus effected mechanically to a greater or less extent bythe movement of the bellows G according to the variable wind pressureobtained in the wind chest H from the foot-bellows and supplied to thefluepipes through conduits h, the variation of pressure being effectedby the player operating the foot bellows of the instrument more or lessvigorously; or if the wind were supplied by power instead of by thefoot-bellows, it would be necessary to provide a valve or itsequivalentbetween the wind chest H and the source of wind supply forobtaining the aforesaid variation of the wind pressure. In thismodification it will be seen that the dynamic control of the fluepipesis obtained by varying the pressure of the wind supply externallyinstead of through a valve located within the fluepipe and that thevariations in the wind supply cause the position of the shutter to bealtered, more orless, in accordance with the degree of pressure, and thepower or volume of the sound produced to be increased or diminishedaccordingly and the swell effect obtained.

\Vhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is 1. An organ fluepipe having a single air inlet and providedwith means for controlling the pipe dynamically whereby the power orvolume of the sound produced can be increased or diminished by theplayer without the use of a swell box.

2. An organ fluepipe provided with means for varying or controlling thevolume of the windstream passing through the windway without materiallyaltering its pressure at that point.

3. An organ fluepipe provided with means for varying or controlling thevolume of the windstream passing through the windway of the fluepipe andwith supplemental means for varying or controlling the pressure of thewindstream on its way to the windway.

4. The combination of an organ fiuepipe having an adjustable member forvarying or controlling the volume of the Windstream passing through theWindWay, and a second adjustable member for varying or controlling thepressure of the \vindstream on its Way to the \vindway, and meanswhereby movement of the volume controlling member effects movement ofthe said pressure controlling member to vary the pressure of theWindstream to the desired degree.

5. An organ fiuepipe provided with means for varying the Width of thewindway of the fluepipe so that the volume of the Windstream passingthrough said \vindway can be altered Without varying its pressure atthat point.

6. A plurality of organ fluepipes, each havin means for varying orcontrolling the volume of the Windstream passing through the WindWayWithout materially altering its pressure at that point, in combinationWith means for enabling all the'volume controlling means to besimultaneously actuated by an operator.

7 A plurality of organ fluepipes, each having means for varying orcontrolling the volume of the Windstream passing through the windwayWithout materially altering its pressure at that point, in combinationwith means for enabling all the volume controlling means to be actuatedsimultaneously and also individually at the Will of the operator.

8. A plurality of organ fluepipes, each having means for varying orcontrolling the volume of the WiIlClStI'GiLIH passing through thewindway With means for varying or controlling the pressure of theWindstream on its Way to the WindWay in combination with a pedal foractuating said volume and pressure controlling means.

9. A plurality of organ fiuepipes, each having means for varying orcontrolling the volume of the Windstream passing through the windwaywith means for varying or controlling the pressure of the Windstream onits Way to the WindWay in combination With a pedal coupled up to saidvolume and pres sure controlling means and to a double touch action.

10. A dynamically controlled organ fluepipe having a shutter-likecontrivance associated with the WindWay, a valve for controlling thepressure of the Wind stream passing to the windway, and means forcausing said shutter and valve to operate simultaneously when one ofthem is actuated.

EDVARD BAVVTREE.

